Local Government Clerk certification sessions are designated (A, B, C).

Those attending as Accelerated Leadership Development Series participants are encouraged to consult their supervisors and/or mentors for advice on session selections that will most support their professional development.

Session numbers are designated by Round. Session availability by year is designated after each session title (with the exception of Round 1). Sessions designated as Open to all years can be found at the beginning of each respective round.

Round One (Monday 4 hours 9 am – 1 pm)

101 – 1^st Year: Learning and Leadership: Wisdom and Compassion
(A 2 hours / B 2 hours)
In this session you will gain self knowledge, understanding about adult leadership and the CEPO model, and learning how to learn (wisdom). You will also gain more understanding about how to relate to others (compassion: Interpersonal Influence Inventory, “I-3”). We will use “Beyond Bravery: the Courage to Lead,” the leader development model by Dr. David G. Jones. Refer to the model description in the Conference section of the website: www.cepoweb.com.
Trainers: David Jones, Pamela Miller

102 – 2^nd Year: Leadership of Others: Compassion and Faith
(A 2 hours / B 2 hours)
This session will build on your leadership learnings from the first year. You will gain more insight and skills in communicating with and influencing others in productive working relations (compassion). You will also deepen your awareness of your core values and purpose in life (faith), which will enable you to better align your own values with those of your organization for more effective leadership capacity.
Trainers: Shirley Poitras, Dave Spiller

103 – 3rd Year: Leading with Intuition: Faith and Courage
(A 2 hours / B 2 hours)
It is important when leading with faith and courage that you know how to access and utilize information from multiple sources in addition to factual data. In this session, you will discover the relationship among intuition, faith and courage. You will increase your awareness of the role of the subconscious and the importance of accessing it for effective problem-solving, conflict resolution and resolving issues. You will discover the degree to which you may already rely on intuition. And, you will learn, explore, and practice ways to strengthen your ability to access intuition to enhance your influence as a leader.
Trainers: Wandzia Rose, Silvia Nakkach

104 – Graduate: Leaders and Continuous Learning: the Personal Power Tracks (A 2 hours / B 2 hours)
Being a Graduate student, you are obviously committed to your ongoing learning and this session builds on that commitment. One of the most important ingredients in leadership today is learning. Leaders who quit learning can only lead from arrogance. The world is rapidly changing and leaders who do not learn are soon out of date. You will learn to use the personal power tracks as a way to aid your continuous learning as a true leader.
Trainer: Judy Sumich

Round Two (Monday 4 hours 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm)

201 – Promoting Civic and Employee Engagement (B) Open to all years
This interactive session will focus on the need of local government leaders to recognize the changes in our world that require new tools for engagement inside and outside the organization. You will explore the mega-trends leading to this new reality, discuss myths related to engagement, and develop strategies so that leaders can effectively achieve their internal and external goals. The session will incorporate presentations, dialogues, participation, exercise and a critique of a significant case study.
Trainers: Tim O’Donnell, Frank Benest

202 – Creating and Developing Effective Technical Writing Skills (A)
Open to all years
Solid technical writing skills are useful for many reasons, particularly with today’s robust international communication technology. As leaders in your organization, the ability to write technical documents, whether it is a strategic plan, annual report, grant application, or simple instructional how-to manuals, it is no doubt a skill that will enhance your organizational value. There are special skills needed to become an effective technical writer that go beyond basic writing ability, including the ability to write lucidly and concisely, familiarity with the writing tools of the trade, and understanding the technical subject matter. In this session, you will gain insight into how to organize ideas in a useful fashion, learn the most effective way to write logical and easy to follow instructions, and increase your capacity to edit and proof your work. Through group discussion you will learn the best tools and resources to use for technical writing, and share best practices when it comes to grant writing.
Trainers: Gloria Young, Maureen Kane

203 – Working with Difficult Behavior, Particularly in Meetings (B) Open to 1^st / 2^nd years
Course Canceled

204 - Doing 1st Things 1st: Establishing Priorities (B) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduate
"I need more time!" "I want to enjoy my life more - I never have enough time to myself." "There is too much stress - everyone wants a piece of my time." "There is too much to do - I feel like I am falling further and further behind!" Do any of these sound or feel familiar to you? In this session you will gain awareness and insight into the important things in your life and work - the "first things". You will build skills in identifying and setting priorities toward achieving the "important" things in your life rather than the "urgent" ones. You will be working with a variety of instruments and techniques that will help you to become more effective in every part of your life.
Trainers: Judy Sumich, Wandzia Rose

Round Three (Tuesday 8 hours 9 am – 1 pm and 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm)

301 - Promoting Organizational Effectiveness and Health in the New World Order (A) Open to all years
This session will explore the nature of a new disruptive world facing local governments and analyze the mega-trends creating this new world order. You will discuss the big challenges and the indispensable competencies required of leaders to address adaptive challenges. The session will focus on definitions and strategies for purpose-driven leadership and the opportunity to exert leadership regardless of one’s position. The session will incorporate presentations, participant exercises and dialogues, and a critique of a significant case study.
Trainers: Tim O’Donnell, Frank Benest

302 - Essential Knowledge for Government Clerks: Developing Interdepartmental Cooperation and the Clerks Role in Developing and Sustaining Organizational Ethics. (A) Open to all years

This session will focus on two specific topics that are relevant to today’s government clerk. The first is developing interdepartmental cooperation within your organization. Whether you are in a large clerk office or a one person office, cooperation and collaboration with other departments within your organization is critical to your agency’s success, as well as your own departmental and personal professional success. In this session you will learn the key components to successful interdepartmental collaboration, gain insight into how to leverage your role and personal strengths to gain credibility for yourself and your department, and create a developmental action plan for back home application.

This session will also focus on organizational ethics and your role in developing and sustaining ethics within your department and organization. You will gain insight and understanding into how individual morals and behavior relate to and impact the greater organizational (or community) acceptable morals and ethics. Through exercises and dialogue, you will gain greater understanding of the sources of public and internal organizational mistrust and identify ways to create opportunities to build trust. You will also explore ways to confront ethical dilemmas and deal with them in a thoughtful and meaningful way.
Trainers: Gloria Young, Wandzia Rose

303 - Life's Lessons: Living Life to the Fullest (B) Open to 1^st / 2^nd years
At some point each of us has asked the question, "Is this really how I want to live my life? " Life is short and we often see only in hindsight what really matters. This session will focus on the lessons you need to learn so that you can live life to its fullest in every moment. You will look at a variety of outcomes from lessons in life that help you to work on getting rid of negativity and finding the best in yourself and others. Some of the lessons explored in this session are: authenticity, relationships, play, creativity, forgiveness, and time. The session will use work from "Life Lessons" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler, through assessments, individual and group exercises and creativity. You will also revisit earlier life experiences to explore how those experiences impact the lessons you've learned and who you are today.
Trainers: Judy Sumich, Shirley Poitras

304 - Leading With Compassion and Mindfulness (B) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduates
“Wherever you go, there you are.” John Kabit Zinn
Compassion is simple warmth and empathy to the suffering of another, it also includes the need or desire to alleviate suffering and discomfort. When mindfulness co-emerges with compassionate action, you create a potent formula for genuine leadership and the growth of a healthy organization. Mindfulness is the skill and art of living in the present. You are there, awake, undistracted, aware and observing the moment. Leadership wisdom resides not in frenetic striving, but in quiet reflection. When leaders take time to reflect, mind-fully, on the thinking that drives their action, they gain clarity and the insight necessary to master the challenges at hand. This workshop will examine the outcome of compassion in action and mindfulness in the domain of helping others, relationships, forgiveness, negotiation, and organizational justice. In particular, in the light of mindfulness and compassion, you will explore your own situations involving depression, anxiety, stress, burnout management and the role of fear, cultural diversity, and inequality. The objectives are to:

· Gain deeper access to our inner world and mind;

· Make the connection between mindfulness, leadership and strategic collaboration;

· Learn to reflect, moment-by-moment, on the thinking that drives action; and

· Gain clarity and insight necessary to master the challenges at hand.
Trainers: Silvia Nakkach, Dave Spiller

305 – Proactive Leadership: Getting Ahead of the Curve by Identifying and Problem Solving Organizational Issues (A) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduates
Course canceled.

Round Four (Wednesday 4 hours (9 am – 1 pm)

401 - A Holistic Approach to Personal Wellness (C) Open to all years
The public sector has been doing more with less for some time now. Personal wellness and wholeness - mind, body, spirit - are key to accessing your capacities in productivity, efficiency, compassion, and to being the best leader you can be. Personal wellness includes both the physical aspect (cardio, flexibility and strength) and psychological/emotional/mental aspect (stress management, relaxation, and wholeness of mind-body-spirit). In this session you will gain insight into your personal wellness in all of those areas, creative and practical techniques to strengthen those areas, and design a holistic personal wellness action plan to enhance your emotional and physical health.
Trainers: Silvia Nakkach, Gloria Young

402 - Understanding Your Role as a Care Giver (C) Open to all years
Course Canceled.

403 - Time Consciousness: The Power of Now (B) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduates
Time is our most precious commodity and the one we least understand. How we understand and deal with time determines who we are and the impact we make. In this course you will utilize Dr. David Jones’ Time Consciousness Inventory for individual insight. This is not a time management session but rather a session on personal power and how to expand it.
Trainers: David Jones, Shirley Poitras

404 - Executive Coaching for Performance Enhancement (B) Open 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduates
You've heard the maxim, "What you put out into the world, you get back". Give yourself the gift of this time to learn more about the Law of Attraction, reflect upon what you're putting out into the world that's working and not working for you right now, and develop an action plan to create everything you ever dreamed of for your life. Bring your willingness to acknowledge your unique gifts and dreams as a leader to this session as you explore the possibilities of unleashing your passion in life. In this session you can expect to:

• enhance your knowledge regarding the strategic planning process;
• learn about the law of attraction;
• create a personal vision for the next year; and
• develop an action plan to make that vision a reality.

Reference material: The Best Year of Your Life: Dream It, Plan It, Live It, by Debbie Ford.
Trainers: Wandzia Rose, Dave Spiller

Round Five (Wednesday 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm)

501 - Living and Working in a Diverse World: A Journey Into Our Differences (B) Open to all years
Course Canceled.

502 - Staying Peaceful in the Midst of Chaos (B) Open to 1^st / 2^nd years
Changing economic times have us pulled in a multitude of directions and the pressures and demands between work and personal life are blurred. As leaders, our lives are filled with challenges, responsibilities, and the expectation to deliver. This course will focus on stress management. Stress is not an event in itself, but a reaction to an event. You will identify:

Your current stress level and how it impacts you emotionally, mentally and physically as well as how it impacts your personal and professional relationships;
how you generate your own stress in your life; and how you react to stressful situations. Using exercises and techniques, you will identify and practice ways of identifying stressors, managing and even eliminating stress in order to improve the quality of your life and enhance your professional performance.
Trainers: Shirley Poitras, Pamela Miller

504 - Leadership: Efficiency, Effectiveness and Flow (B)
Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduate
This session will examine a sampling of the work of Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., (D.J. Davidson Professor of Psychology and Management at the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University) and its relevance to leadership effectiveness. He explains “Flow” as that state of heightened focus, productivity, and happiness at work that we all intuitively understand and hunger for; and in this “flow state”, we engage so completely in what we are doing that we lose track of time. Hours pass in minutes. All sense of self recedes. At the same time, when we are in flow, we are gently challenged to go beyond our limits and develop new abilities. Most of us have experienced being very efficient, and yet felt not very effective. The Flow State can help us to identify how we do both simultaneously. This session may include self assessments, interactive outreach dialogue with the community to explore methodologies, skills and challenges facing leaders today in building and sustaining effective organizations, and action planning for back home applications based on a practical leadership effectiveness summary profile.
Trainers: Judy Sumich, Silvia Nakkach

Round Six (Thursday 8 hours 9 am – 1 pm and 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm)

601 - The Courage to Lead in Difficult Times (A) Open to all years
If you really want to take home new ideas, a richer understanding of your values and beliefs and the skills to make a difference in your back home environment then this session is for you! The Courage to Lead is a leader development model based on:

• Wisdom: Knowing who I am and what do I bring to the table
• Compassion: Knowing how to work with others to achieve what we both want
• Faith: Knowing my personal values and accepting what I am here for
• Courage: Knowing what to do and taking action even when I am scared to death

The objectives of this session are answering the questions for each of us:

1. Who am I as a leader and how can I keep learning and growing?
2. What are some specific things I can do to help myself and my colleagues survive and produce in these uncertain times?
3. How can I face the fears of the present in order to build a future uncontrolled by them?
4. How can I have fun and enjoy life and work and help others to do the same?
   Trainers: David Jones, Gloria Young

602- Creative Risk-Taking: Deepening My Courage to Act (B) Open to 1^st / 2^nd years
This session focuses on building this crucial leadership skill. “What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” The goals of this session are to explain the workings of your creative sub-conscious and to explore the barriers that inhibit your creative mechanism and your ability to act. You will explore and experience the various steps in the creative process and learn how to work through the barriers as you encounter them. You will have the opportunity to experience and build skills in the basic elements that are critical to deepening your courage to act and turn visions into realities (self-image, trust, receive and use positive feedback, and visualization). You will learn to decide even when the deciding is tough.
Trainers: Judy Sumich, Wandzia Rose

603 - Moving from Darkness Into Light: Reclaiming Your Personal Power (B) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduate
Course Canceled.

604 – Generating Your World: Creating and Sustaining the Work You Love in the Environment You Create (B) Open to 2^nd / 3^rd / Graduate
Whether you’re experiencing a transition in your own life or assisting others through their life challenges, this session will give you a deeper understanding of how to bring more harmony into all the environments in which you live. You will learn how to discover and develop the work you were meant to do and how that is aligned with the work you are doing now. You will also learn how to revitalize and inspire your current work. Through a series of exercised, you will take a clear look at your life, become aware of able to release the conditioned habits that keep you stuck, and create a new life map that calls you forward into the fullest expression of what you really wish to do in this cycle of your life. Activities include: listening exercises to connect with your authentic voice; interpersonal meditations and dialogues to resonate with your highest passion and purpose; conflict resolution techniques to transform scarcity into abundance; learning to empower your environment; and new mind-body tools, strategies and practices to help you navigate each passage with skill and grace.
Trainers: Silvia Nakkach, Shirley Poitras